1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to a method and system for a telecommunications network entity and, more particularly, to a method and system for providing redundancy in a telecommunications network entity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In telecommunication systems, the performance of a network entity (e.g., a serving entity) such as a switch may be judged by its availability and redundancy capabilities. Generally, such systems are designed to operate with the full capacity of such serving entities available at all times. Taking a telecommunication switch as an example, certain components may be rendered to failure, and may reduce the capability of the switch to support a full load of traffic at which the switch is designed to handle. This problem may lead to the disconnection of a certain number of users who are using the switch during a call and may prevent a certain number of new users from making new calls. This problem may result in a lack of availability of services in emergency situations that affect whole geo-locations, such as natural disasters (e.g., an earthquake, tsunami, etc.). Generally, the longer the down time of the telecommunications network, the larger the financial losses to the network operator and the higher the impact on the human lives in our society. Accordingly, the operational abilities of a serving entity are important in the network because it aids in defining the reliability factor of a communication between two parties, and its failure may lead to the loss of calls and data information.
A known network configuration of a partial solution for providing redundancy of a network entity is illustrated in FIG. 1. The network 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes redundancy protection by duplicating all the hardware and software of an active main entity 110, and installing a standby redundant or duplicate entity 120 in relatively close proximity to the active main entity 110. For example, the active main entity 110 and standby redundant entity 120 are generally in the same physical location 160, such as in the same building and connected by a private local area network 130. If the active main entity 110 becomes inoperative, e.g. unable to function properly, the redundant entity 120 becomes active and takes over all the services. However, this solution may be unworkable in the event of a natural disaster that affects the entire location 1. It is also relatively expensive given that a network operator has to purchase twice the amount of hardware and software for the functionality of a single entity.
In addition, this solution does not efficiently handle partial failure of the active main entity 110. In other words, if only some of the components in the active main entity 110 are out of service, the known solution is to completely shutdown the active main entity 110 and activate the redundant entity 120. However, this is not an efficient solution given that all the components that did not fail in the main active entity 110 become non-useable after the service is switched to the redundant entity 120. There is also no mechanism for active calls at active main entity 110 to survive in the event of its failure. Furthermore, redundant trunks also need to be provided at the redundant entity 120 with alternate routes. This redundancy further increases the operational costs and complexity in network design.
Another disadvantage is that known solutions do not provide any means for automatic switchover from the main entity 110 to the redundant entity 120. Often the failure must be determined by a network operator and the switchover performed manually.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and system for maximizing the availability time of the full capacity of a telecommunications entity, even in the event of an emergency situation that affects an entire region. Moreover, an efficient method of redundancy is needed that maximizes the use of operational components of a telecommunications entity in the event of failure of just one or more of its components and provides a more reliable means for switchover.